More about this maze cartoon's topic:US to Deploy Predator Drones Along Texas-Mexico Border

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano has confirmed plans for the United States to deploy unmanned Predator drones to patrol the US-Mexico border in Texas. The United States currently has four drones patrolling the border with Mexico in Arizona and one in the northern border with Canada in the state of North Dakota. Napolitano made the announcement during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Janet Napolitano: "I’m also proud to announce today that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved the use of CBP unmanned aircraft system flights along the Texas border and in the Gulf region...These types of flights aren’t useful everywhere, but in some places they’re part of the right mix of infrastructure, manpower and technology that improves border security."

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano also unveiled new plans to increase government surveillance along the border by developing a system to begin photographing the license plates of every vehicle.

Janet Napolitano: "We’re partnering with the Office of National Drug Control Policy to implement Project Roadrunner, an automated license-plate recognition system. Project Roadrunner was conceived to target both north- and southbound drug trafficking and associated illegal activity along the Southwest border."

The gathering storm in the Middle East is gaining momentum. War clouds are on the horizon and, as with conditions prior to World War I, all it takes for explosive action to commence is a trigger.

Turkey’s provocative flotilla—often described in Orwellian terms as a humanitarian mission—has set in motion a flurry of diplomatic activity, but if the Iranians send escort vessels for the next round of Turkish ships, it could present a casus belli.

It is also instructive that Syria is playing a dangerous game with both missile deployment and rearming Hezbollah. According to most public accounts, Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 long-, medium- and short-range missiles and Syrian territory has served as a conduit for military material from Iran since the end of the 2006 Lebanon War.

Images of the beleaguered BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, attending a yacht race on the Isle of Wight, just 48 hours after a hostile interrogation by a US congressional committee on the Gulf Coast oil spill, have provoked sharp criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, condemned Hayward's attendance at the event as "part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes" on ABC television, adding: "I think that we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting".

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Milking the flotilla ordeal for all it's worth;Maze Cartoon by Yonatan Frimer

Cartoon maze of a cow being milked. The utters are labeled "Flotilla Ordeal" , the arms that squeeze the milk out are labeled "Iran" and "Turkey" and the pail that has the milk says on it "Got PR?" Created by Yonatan Frimer

Articles on the maze's topic:

Joel HillikerColumnist

A Good Excuse to End a Bad Relationship

Israel could see what was coming. Before the convoy set sail, Israeli leaders pleaded with Turkish officials to stop it; they offered to allow the supplies to be delivered through an Israeli checkpoint. But Erdoğan’s government let it go anyway. Thus, Israel had no choice but to intervene directly. And those on the boat made sure it turned violent.

Now, Turkey is milking the event for all it’s worth. It accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism. It compared the psychological impact of the incident on Turks to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Americans. Turkish President Abdullah Gül called the Israeli raid a crime against humanity and said Israeli-Turkish relations will never be the same. Erdoğan labeled it a massacre. Turkish armed forces announced several cutbacks in cooperation with Israeli forces. The government also offered to supply Turkish naval protection for the next “aid” convoy to Gaza; “This would be, in effect, an act of war,” wrote Mark Steyn, “—more to the point, an act of war by a nato member against the State of Israel.”

What do the Swedish Gaza activists hope to achieve?.....Who actually profited from what happened? Well, most analysts agree that the biggest beneficiaries are the radical Islamists of the Middle East, notably Hamas, the terrorist organization which currently rules Gaza. Hamas won a major PR victory and gained valuable international legitimacy at the expense of moderate Palestinians and the Fatah leadership of the West Bank. Politically this is a boost for those Palestinians who object to peace negotiations with Israel, and prefer the more violent path of jihad, the so-called holy war against Israel and the non-Muslim world.

In Turkey, Islamist extremists are milking the incident to win easy points against secular and modernising forces. Iran is delighted that the world’s attention is being diverted away from its nuclear programme and arms deals with Hezbollah and Syria. As so often before in the Middle-East, the rhetoric of peace and freedom becomes a tool to strengthen despotic, terror-sponsoring regimes which scoff at both. This happened largely because, as Israeli author David Grossman put it, Israel acted like a puppet on strings pulled by a small fanatical Turkish organization......

More on this maze's topic:

The United Nations Security Council approved a new round of sanctions against Iran last week for its refusal to curb the country's nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at producing weapons. Iran denies that.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran favors a dialogue with the West, but will announce its conditions soon. He said the carrot-and-stick approach doesn't work and Iran will not make "one iota of concessions" to the West.

"You showed bad temper, reneged on your promise and again resorted to devilish manners," he said of the powers that imposed sanctions. "We set conditions (for talks) so that, God willing, you'll be punished a bit and sit at the negotiating table like a polite child," he told a crowd during a visit to the central Iranian town of Shahr-e-Kord. His speech was broadcast live on state TV.

More on this maze's topic:

Smugglers in Egypt and Gaza worry their trade will be adversely affected by returning Palestinians lugging goods bought for cheaper prices in Egypt. They know a total termination of the blockade will spell the end of their industry.

"If the border opened, there won't be any tunnels," Abu Al-Amir, a tunnel worker in Gaza, said in a telephone interview with AOL News. "If the tunnels end, no one will work."

Al-Amir said nervous conversations about what will happen if the border stays open have rippled through the smuggling community in Gaza. Although his work has not been affected, Al-Amir said, "There are people who are afraid."

Right now, it's business as usual for many of Gaza's tunnels that ferry construction materials, something neither of the borders is allowing through.

More on this maze's topic:

Turkey's Erdogan bears responsibility in flotilla fiasco

WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have been right to be concerned about Israel's poor judgment and botched execution in the raid against the Free Gaza flotilla. But they ought to be at least as worried about the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which since Monday has shown a sympathy toward Islamic militants and a penchant for grotesque demagoguery toward Israel that ought to be unacceptable for a member of NATO.

On the opposite page today, Turkey's ambassador to the United States makes the argument that Israel had no cause to clash with the "European lawmakers, journalists, business leaders and an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor" who were aboard the flotilla. But there...(read full article)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

For Immediate Release -

Near Ashdod, Israel, June 7, 2010 -

The recent headlines have been focusing on the Israeli "Flotilla raid", specifically the raid on the Mavi Marmara. This week, we give you 5 (five) maze cartoons centered around this topic. You may use these for editorial purposes and in any other way you'd like, no charge.

Topics of this week's maze cartoons:* Erdogan's comparison of flotilla raid to 9/11; How does it stack up against the Armenian Genocide?* The things the flotilla has left in its' wake.* Israel's public relation teams: 3 stooges and a barrel of monkeys.* Which form of Islam is true?* Who you calling chicken? Turkey AKP surrounded by terrorist chickens.

About Yonatan Frimer:Yonatan Frimer is a syndicated editorial cartoonist. Aside from being laugh-out-loud funny,or at least chuckle-worthy, each of Frimer's cartoons is also a maze. In anticipation of his soon-to-be-announced book, he is releasing 6-months worth of editorial cartoons on current events at no charge to newspapers and news outlets around the world.

Yonatan Frimer is also available as a freelance maze artist & cartoonist, able to create custom mazes for your newspaper at only $250 per maze. He can make custom mazes for your puzzles section, portraits of your staff, poke fun at local issues, or anything else you might want.

More on this maze's topic:

Erdogan: Hamas not terror group

"Hamas's resistance fighters were meant to defend their land. They won an election. I've told American officials before that I do not consider Hamas a terror organization, and I still don't. They are defending their land," he was quoted by Turkish media as saying.

More on this maze's topic:

Probe reveals flotilla lynchers have ties to Global Jihad

The ongoing interrogation of passengers who were aboard the Marmara – the Gaza aid flotilla's flagship – revealed that the majority of those who attacked the Israeli Naval Commandos boarding the ship have direct and indirect Global Jihad ties.

Israel's investigation has revealed some 100 people infiltrated the (read more)